Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Subway Mittens

Greetings and Dear Cynthia,

This morning I went to the gym and I brought my ear phones instead of my chemistry binder. It felt weird... Great to have some time for others things; sad that I'll miss all of the people and the whole learning experience thing. (I'm not taking classes next semester; it will be my first semester in which I don't have to study since 2004. Now I'll have no excuse for a messy house.) And, you won't have to hear me blathering on about it any more!

Here is almost half of a pair of Subway Mittens (pattern from the winter issue of Interweave Knits). (Please pardon the crummy photo -- I'll get some better pictures when they are done.) I have the pocket 2/3 sewn in place, and the flap is done though not sewn in place. (Recall that I am a picky, picky "finisher", so it takes me forever to sew these pieces together...) Reading the article in the magazine, for some metro transportation systems, you can just leave the card in the mitten pocket and wave your hand in front of the sensor as you are admitted into the system. We don't have anything like that in Madison (yet), but I am planning ahead for next year when I am (hopefully) in grad school and I will keep my free bus pass in the little pocket -- I'll have to dig it out to slide it through the card reader on the bus, but it will be a handy place to keep it. Plus, a pocket on a mitten just looks cool... Also, I really didn't like the pointy tips at first, but now I think they look nice and they are so quick and easy. I chose the yarn because I thought it wouldn't irritate my hands: It is a wool/cotton blend, and generally my hands literally become raw in wool mittens, but I am cautiously optimistic that these are going to work out great! Very soft, though the warmth factor will be another critical test...

And now, just some notes to our commenters (and I ALWAYS love hearing from you!):

Cindy G: The sock yarn I used was Trekking (75%wool, 25%nylon) and I love it!

Michele: Well, technically, I don't do a lot of "housework", so that helps with the schedule :-) We keep things picked up around here, though I have plenty of dust and dishes sitting around at any given time. I'm trying to teach the boys to take care of their own things -- their future wives will thank me! I'm so glad you have plenty of time to play now!! Thank you for your note!

Sus: You cracked me up with your comment about weaving ends in while in the driveway!

Well, my five year old and I are going to get going on some Christmas shopping this morning, for my nieces and nephews. Eventually I'd like to convince my family to do the alternative gift thing in which we all pool our gift money and give it to charities, though I suggested that a few years ago and it wasn't received very well. Maybe when the kids are all a little bit older, I'll try again with that idea. In the meantime, I'm going to try to buy either local or fair trade items. I'll let you know what I find.

Just a general question to everybody: How are you coming on your Christmas knitting?

5 comments:

Ahem. Well, I have only *one* thing to make for Christmas, and I just informed my husband that it will be late. It will be finished on time, but then I have to ship it, so... no. Oh well! I got him some books from Amazon to tide him over! He'll be happy as a clam.

I am basically finished with the Christmas knitting, now working on a pair of socks for my husband, but that is not technically for Christmas, although the way things are going, he will probably wear them that day. Finished Christmas knitting: 1 child's size pair of socks, 1 pair for my daughter-in-law, 1 sleeveless cabled vest for my 3 year old grandson, one Christmas stocking, 1 pair of felted slippers, 1 felted purse and one hemp shopping bag. Not too bad, I am quite proud of myself:) Your mitten looks great, I hope the yarn will not irritate your skin.